BySchuyler Velasco, Staff writerAugust 21, 2013

Fast-food restaurant chains are constantly rejiggering their menus in the hopes of luring new customers and coming up with the next buzzworthy food item. But often, when restaurant chains swing for the fences, they miss. Here are some of the most memorable fast-food failures of the past few decades.

7.
Hula Burger

A McDonald's restaurant sign is illuminated in the Wrigleyville neighborhood of Chicago in 2009.

The Hula Burger didn’t so much fail as get beat out by a far superior sandwich. In the early 1960s, McDonald’s owner Ray Kroc concocted a battle royale of the meatless sandwiches, in the hopes of luring Catholic customers who didn’t eat meat on Fridays. In one corner: a grilled pineapple sandwich placed in a hamburger bun and topped with traditional burger fixins’. In the other: what we now know as the Filet-O-Fish, invented by Cincinnati McDonald’s franchisee Lou Groen. Mr. Kroc had McDonald’s sell the two sandwiches side by side on Fridays, and whichever sold the most would be added to the permanent menu. The Filet-O-Fish won by a landslide, and it’s still a permanent fixture of the McDonald’s menu. The Hula Burger, meanwhile, appears mostly on lists like this one.